Telsec Business Centres Inc.

As I have mentioned in a previous blog, I have not been spending much time in my downtown office space this week and have instead been playing tour guide to a visitor from Australia. Some of my clients see this as me taking a vacation and they are contacting me by my cell when they need help, but potential new clients would not understand me taking a mini vacation when they are looking for my services right now.

The only reason I am able to have this time away from my Toronto office space and take day trips to tourist attractions is that I have a professional receptionist who can screen and route my calls to my cell phone, without me having to be in my office space downtown Toronto.

Today we had a very hot and humid day, so our plan was to maybe go to the Olympic Pools at Woodbine Beach. Thinking that it would be faster to change at home and drive down to the pool. We all changed at my place and proceeded to the pool. When we got to the pool, we found that not only was the pool at capacity, but there was a long line up waiting for people to get in. We did not know what the back up plan was, so we joined the line and hoped it would move quickly.

The line did not go anywhere for almost 20 minutes, but that is when I got the call. A friend of mine wanted to know if I wanted go swimming at their place. I jumped on the opportunity and we left the line to head to my friends place.

My friends pool was an unheated outdoor pool, but at this temperature, none of us thought it would matter. We all still had our swim suites on and proceeded to dip our feet in …. yikes it was cold.  The Australian visitor was the first to jump in, followed by our hostess. My girlfriend and I were still on the fence, deciding if the water  was too cold. The Aussi convinced her to take the plunge.  This left me as the last man standing outside the pool.

I was still the only one outside of the water and was considering taking it slow and walking in from the shallow end slowly. the geers and taunts started. I stepped back out of the pool and walked to the deep end.  After more taunts, I decided to take the plunge.  #%* it was that cold. A few moments later I noticed that there was something still in the pockets of my swim shorts, it was my phone.  I quickly pulled my phone out of my pocket and put it on the deck… it was dead.

Knowing that my office space Toronto receptionist was transferring my calls to my cell, I quickly called the receptionist using my friends phone and explained the situation. She was able to change the note on my profile and direct my calls to my voice mail with the excuse that I was in a “out of office” meeting.

After blow drying my phone, we found it does still work, but I will need to replace it soon.   More importantly, my clients did not know anything was wrong and I was able to answer their voice mail when I got to a phone that I could collect their messages.

My mistake with the cell phone and it not being able to swim, all worked out.

Americas morning television duo Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa rocketed the search term “Prince Edward Island” ranked second in the top Google search terms in the United States on Monday, even Tuesday the search term was ranked 19th.

Live with Regis and Kelly are in PEI to do two live shows and two taped shows to air Wednesday and Thursday. The Prince Edward Island government spent $800,000 to help bring the show to the province, while the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency contributed an additional $200,000.

I have not heard if Regis and Kelly would be taking a trip across the confederation bridge, the world’s longest bridge over ice-covered water, but in Toronto a bridge of its own was announced, well actually a tunnel. For years The Toronto Port Authority, who controls the Billy Bishop Island Airport has been trying to get a bridge to the airport. They are now planning  to build a 123-metre pedestrian tunnel at the cost of $45-million. The tunnel will be financed through a public-private partnership.

The Billy Bishop Island Airport has become very popular to business travelers who have Toronto Downtown office space and need to travel to cities like Ottawa, Montreal, New York and even Chicago. From their office space Toronto, they can be at the Island Airport in minutes and not have to fight traffic getting to Pearson International in Mississauga.

Saying Happy 143rd Birthday Canada makes more sense than saying Happy 27th Canada Day. What a lot of people may not know or may not remember is that the first time July 1st was called “Canada Day” was 1983.

Previously July first was known as “Dominion Day”, but an Act of Parliament in October of 1982, changed the name so to make the name sound less colonial and because in 1992 Canada had its own constitution that replaced the British North American Act (BNA). Some (like my father) refused to accept this name change and continued to call it “Dominion Day” because they believed that dominion referred to to the fact that Canada had dominion from sea to sea.  I still remember asking when I was about 10, why Dominion Stores had day named after it .

Regardless of what it had been called or what it is now called, July 1st is a day for Canadians to celebrate Confederation through the BNA of 1867, that made Canada a Kingdom of its own. Being born on the Centennial year of 1967, it was alway easy for me to remember how old Canada was, I just had to add 100 to my age. The year I was born, the government sent out special scrolls for children born in that year.  I wonder if for its Sesquicentennial, the government will send out a special tax rebates to those born in Canada on its Centennial. Ok, wishful thinking.

Back to this Canada Day. In our nation’s capital, Canada Day was off to a more pomp and circumstance beginning, because Her Royal Majesty The Queen and Prince Philip arrived on Parliament Hill in a horse-drawn landau, complete with a mounted RCMP escort.

The Queen's Personal Canadian Flag

Instead of the Canadian flag flying above the Peace Tower of Parliament Hill, the Queen’s personal Canadian flag (The Royal Standard) will be flying.

I believe that shortly after the Queen leaves Parliament Hill, her flag will then be taken down and replace with the Canadian flag for the remainder of the Canada Day celebrations.

As I sit here working in my Toronto downtown office space, I notice that I am only one of a few people working on this national holiday. Some of the others who are working in their Toronto office space are much like myself and are working with American clients who do not have a holiday today. This is not the case for an acquaintance of mine, his office space Toronto is closed today, but he still needs to work. Working from home was not an option, as his neighbors were having a large and noisy Canada Day party. She had to rent a hotel room with WIFI internet access, so she could meet a deadline of July 2nd. She did tell me that she is now rethinking her current office situation, but is stuck in a lease that does not come up until the end of this year. I reminded her that I have a great office space location without a long term lease commitment, and that I have 24 hour access seven days a week.  Her only rebuttal was “why did you not tell me about this sooner”.